Oprah’s Vegan Challenge

To say I’m happy that Oprah did a show about being vegan is an understatement.

As everyone knows, this is Oprah’s last year doing the Oprah Show and she’s being very selective about the topics she’s covering.

How amazing that one of the topics she deems worthy of additional coverage is the way animal rights and animal cruelty issues factor into how we eat in this country.

Oprah presented her staff with a challenge to be vegan for one week. Meaning, they were not to eat any animal products, or animal bi-products like eggs, milk, or cheese.

Some of the staffers were overwhelmed, but it apeeared as though the majority felt better, lost weight, and will forever look at food differently.

New York Times best selling author, Kathy Ferston was on the show the entire time. Her books include ‘Veganist’, ‘Quantum Wellness’, and ‘Quantum Wellness Cleanse’. She is an inspiration and an incredible spokesperson for the vegan movement.

She offered viewers easy, inexpensive ways to incorporate vegan options into their diets and shared some simple recipes to add to their repertoir.

The man responsible for bringing us the acclaimed documentary ‘Food Inc.’, Michael Pollan also returned to the show.

Although I do like ‘Food Inc.’, I was a little disappointed by his appearance. Every time an audience member, or Kathy, would sing the praises of veganism, he chimed in to defend the decision to eat meat that is raised and killed “humanely”.

There were moments when I was thinking “wow, middle America is really going to hear this and change the way they eat”, and then Michael would say, “Well, there are a lot of good farmers out there who need our support, so we don’t want to stop eating meat all together”. Or something of that nature.

Lisa Ling visited a slaughter house where they made it look so neat, clean, and painless. It was such an inaccurate depiction of what most slaughter houses are like in this country.

Most cows live horrible lives, know they are going to be slaughtered, and experience a great deal of pain in the process.

I do wish Oprah would have shown what most slaughter houses are like because the one she profiled was more the exception than the rule.

Having said that, I am still beaming that she took the time to shine a light on an industry that most people don’t want to think about.

If the message to make a connection with a living animal being killed to what’s on our plates resonates with even a few people and inspires them to make a change, then animal’s lives will be saved and that’s a victory!